Adventures in Football: Reactions and Overreactions to Week 1 - Part 1

About 550 pounds of Carolina Panther broke something inside of Donovan McNabb yesterday and that raises a lot of questions for the City of Brotherly Love. But the one everyone asked right away is the one that's easiest to answer.

No, we are not any closer to seeing Michael Vick.

The opening Sunday of the NFL season served up the usual menu of good, bad, weird and dramatic. This is the Sunday that causes most rabid football fans to make uneducated, and incredibly silly predictions based on what they see when a team plays its first 60 minutes of the year.

So for a game-by-game break down of what's really going on after a relatively entertaining Sunday, we turn to a cynical pissy Mets fan, who accepts that no matter how good your team looks on opening day, it only takes a split-second to burn the damn house down. (That would be me).

Jets 24, Texans 7
The Truth:
- Mark Sanchez looked damn impressive in his debut. He was able to scramble and make throws on the run while pursued by a team with an above average pass-rush crew. His offensive line was also impressive, keeping Mario Williams away from their rookie QB.
- More impressive was the Jets defense. Rex Ryan has whipped this crew into shape. They rattled Matt Schaub, forced him into mistakes, and left wide-out Andre Johnson to put up pedestrian numbers at best yesterday.

Calm down people:
- Sanchez was 18-for-31, 1 TD and 1 interception. He was good, he wasn't incredible. The Jets are not automatically set to fill the role that Matt Ryan and the Falcons did last year. Next week's home opener with the Patriots (plus Brady) will be the true litmus test for Gang Green. They don't have to win, they just have to put the fear of god in their divisional rivals to make me believe they can take a stab at the playoffs down the line.
- Houston isn't done either. Schaub was still coming off an ankle injury and lets be honest ... do you think the Texans expected the Jets to come out and play as well as they did on both sides of the ball?
- The Colts didn't look like invincible in beating the Jaguars, so everyone who is running from the "Houston Texans '09 AFC South Champion" bandwagon can hop back on, at least for another week or two.

Dolphins 19, Falcons 7
- For all the huffing and puffing I did about Atlanta's lack-of-defense ... I'm sorry.
- For all the huffing and puffing I did in saying Miami had no chance to beat Atlanta this week, I was justified, apologies can be mailed to...
- Matt Ryan is a solid second-year quarterback and giving him an added weapon in Tony Gonzalez only furthers my hopes that this team can go beyond the wild card round this year. And a divisional round tilt with the Eagles (plus Vick) is a delicious thought, even though it is only Week One. A boy can dream can't he?
- Miami, hold on to the damn football! Three fumbles is inexcusable, and you'll see similar criticism of the Panthers later on ... nine turnovers in your past two games? (last season's playoff loss to the Ravens and yesterday vs. Atlanta). This is not the way you repeat, especially not in the AFC East.

Broncos 12, Bengals 7
- Tip drills exist for a reason guys ... but does anyone else think there's a global conspiracy against the Bengals? Look at this two-play span on the final Broncos drive:

- Kyle Orton heaves one closer to a pair of Bengals defenders than he does to Brandon Marshall, who then makes zero attempt to break up the INT. Marshall actually lands and checks to see if both of his feet are in bounds, even though he doesn't have the ball. The Bengals pick the ball, but the defender falls out of bounds.
- Kyle Orton under throws Brandon Marshall (SHOCKING!) Marshall sees the ball get batted up in the air, and is leveled by a pair of Bengals just as he finishes wondering if he could get a trade back in time to the XFL, just to get out of Denver. Brandon Stokeley, who was actually cutting across the field so he could buy a lemon ice from a vendor on the Cincy side of the stadium, accidentally catches the pass then scampers down field for the game-winning touchdown.
- To add insult to injury, Stokely pulls out the Madden move and runs paralell to the goal line to kill some clock.

- What does it all really mean? IF San Diego beats Oakland by more than 20 points tonight, they clinch the AFC West. OK, not really, but I think that rule should be instated.

Vikings 34, Browns 20
- Brett Favre is back. His most athletic play of the day? Tackling Percy Harvin after the kid made his first TD reception. In essence, doing what Brett does best. Holding a talented rookie down.
- Adrian Peterson is still the scariest human being on the planet. Do you think instead of spin and stiffarm that they will give Peterson a "bitch slap" button in Madden '11? Because I could watch that swim move/short-arm clothesline he performed on a leaping Browns defender over, and over, and over again.
- Favre is now Peterson's side kick. It's not Batman and Robin ... it's more like a seeing-eye dog and the blind fellow it leads around.
- The Browns are still the Browns, but at least they were competitive yesterday.

Colts 14, Jaguars 12
- Good game between two good teams, and Peyton is now one-win away from passing the great Johnny Unitas to become the all-time wins leader for the Colts. Good for Peyton. He's just as frustratingly incredible as Tom Brady, but we all seem to hate him less.
- David Garrard continues to baffle me. He's such a likeable guy at quarterback because he rarely coughs the ball up... but the guy can't get downfield. Ever. 122 total yards over the air yesterday. I know your pass-run ratio is going to be a little skewed when you've got Maurice Jones-Drew, but come on. His accuracy has dipped a little too, only 14-of-28 passing.
- Not going to lie, this was one of the more sleep-inducing contests of the afternoon. Mistake-free fundamental, low-scoring football may be the textbook way to play, but when its competing with Adrian "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch" Peterson, a Broncos-Bengals circus ending, and Drew Brees, it just doesn't stack up.

Saints 45, Lions 27
- For those of you keeping track, that was the Lions 18th straight regular season loss. They last beat the Chiefs, 25-20, on Dec. 23, 2007.
- Which is scarier? That Drew Brees can put up more touchdowns than a bored college kid playing NFL Blitz in my townhouse last year ... or that the Saints defense just yieled 27 points to Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions?
Answer: "How bad do you think the Saints actually feel for giving up more than 10, let alone 20, points to the freaking' Lions!" - Daniel Santapega, Junkyard Luxury drummer and "King of answering questions posed in my blog a day in advance"

Cowboys 34, Bucs 21
- Welcome back Caddilac. Don't need to repeat all the ESPN hype about his return and subsequent performance, but it was nice to see him out there running all over the damn place.
- I don't think the 'Boys missed T.O. in the slightest yesterday. Romo threw three absolute bombs to three different wide-outs. That back shoulder dump to Miles Austin looked a little like some old Eli-Plaxico magic from '07 didn't it? If ya can't beat em, assimilate? The Cowboys have their talent level back up, Romo still has a solid core to throw too. So why won't Dallas win the NFC East this year? Wade Phillips is still their coach.
- Tampa Bay is going to be the best 6-10 team in football this year. Sorry, but a team fronted by Byron Leftwich is not going to fare well when they have a tough divisional schedule (Panthers, Saints, Falcons) and a schedule featuring the AFC East and NFC East.

Eagles 38, Panthers 10
- What's worse than the Dolphins coughing the ball up nine times in two games? When the Panthers do it eleven times over two, and nine of the give-aways are Jake Delhomme interceptions!!!!! These games were against the Cardinals (Divisional Round '08) and the Eagles, you know the team that lost Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard in the off-season, and was supposed to be suspect on defense.
- As much as I loathe Philly, that was a blatant late hit by a rumbling, bumbling, stumbling Panthers D-lineman against McNabb. Fines, please.
- Now to the big question ... does a broken rib for McNabb mean we see Michael Vick at the helm anytime soon? Not at all:
One, Vick isn't eligible to return until Week 3.
Two, he does not know that offense well enough yet. Let Kevin Kolb make a run at, or re-sign A.J. Feeley and/or Jeff Garcia. Let's be honest here, if Vick comes back to start and he isn't comfortable with the offensive setup... he's going to go schoolyard and run the ball all over the place. And he can't possibly be as fast as he was in the Atlanta days, so that won't end well.
- What the hell happened to Jake Delhomme? I... I really don't know. This is one of the most dramatic falls from grace I can remember.


More later ... afraid its time to go to work where I cover cops, not football :(

Introduction

Hello folks, and welcome to The Cheap Seats. Took me a bit to set it up and I have to leave for work soon so no first post just yet, but below are some links to a few of my original "Cheap Seats" columns to give visitors an idea of what to expect in the coming days. I can assure you there will be plenty of Mets' chatter to get us started over the course of the week. But for now, lets take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

The Signal: October 2008 - Before we Shea goodbye: A look at 45 years of Amazin' moments

The Signal: September 2008 - It's time to believe again

The Signal: February 2009 - The Rotten Apple

Later on

- James